


Conversations on the Road to Splitsville

by Redrikki



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Break Up, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Family Feels, Grief/Mourning, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:45:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4294677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tenzin and Lin were never going to work, it just took him a long time to realize that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conversations on the Road to Splitsville

_For his fifth birthday, Dad took Tenzin to the Southern Air Temple. It was their special adventure, just the two of them. From the air, the temple looked just like home, only bigger, and on a mountain instead of an island, and with a different colored roof. At least they both had a tower._

_The abbot and a flood of acolytes came pouring out of the orchards and fields to greet them. “Avatar Aang,” the abbot and Dad exchanged polite bows, “an honor, as always.” He smiled down at Tenzin the way adults did. “And who is this young man?”_

_“This is my son, Tenzin.”_

_The abbot gasped and a murmur swept through the crowd like a wave,_ air bender, air bender, air bender _. The old man gave Tenzin a bow as low as the one he’d given the Avatar. “Blessed child,” he said. “You are most welcome here.”_

_Aang spent the rest of the afternoon showing Tenzin around the temple. He took him to the air ball field, the sky bison cave, and even his old bedroom. It was exactly how he had left it and it was strange thinking about Dad sleeping here and playing with those toys. The entire time, Tenzin kept seeing them out of the corner of his eye. They were being followed by Air Acolytes, too far to eavesdrop but close enough to watch._

_As they sat down to watch the sunset on a balcony overlooking a meditation garden, Tenzin couldn’t take it any longer. “Dad, why is everyone acting so weird?”_

_Dad gazed sadly into the middle distance for so long Tenzin almost thought he wasn’t going to answer. “When I was your age there were dozens of boys studying here and at least as many monks. The other temples were just as full, plus there were all the Nomads who followed the bison herds.” For a moment it looked like he might cry, but then he took a big breath and pushed on. “After the war, the Air Acolytes helped to preserve what was left of our culture, but_ I _was the only, the last, air bender.” He turned to smile down at Tenzin. “Then you came along._ You _are our people’s hope for the future, Tenzin. You.”_

****

Age 21

Lin moaned as Tenzin planted a row of kisses along the length of her neck. Then it was his turn as she drew her leg up against his crotch. He was supposed to be dropping her off after their date, but they had been at this for a while. Somewhere across the bay, the clock on Avatar Aang Island tolled midnight and Lin reluctantly pulled away. “I’m sorry, Tenzin,” she gasped, flushed and delightfully disheveled. “It’s only a few hours before my shift and I _have_ to get some sleep.”

“I understand.” Tenzin was almost painfully hard, but he knew when to stop. “Sleep fast.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Dream of me.”

“Always.” Lin pulled him into one last, lingering kiss, before slipping inside. Tenzin leaned against the wall with a groan and tried to remember the breathing exercises Dad taught him for getting rid of erections. He closes his eyes, hoping it might help, but all he could think about was Lin up in her bedroom. Lin taking off her clothes. Lin sinking into her bath, the water caressing her skin the way he wanted to. Unsurprisingly, the breathing exercises weren’t working and Tenzin seriously considered slipping down the side alley to take himself in hand. 

The door beside him creaked open and for a moment Tenzin thought Lin had changed her mind. Sadly, no. “What are you still doing here?” demanded Suyin as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. 

Tenzin pulled his dignity around him like a cloak. “I was just enjoying the night air.” He thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t have hair to muss and that his Air Nomad robes did a fine job of hiding his flagging erection.

He supposed he still looked pretty debauched if Su’s smirk was anything to go by. “Sure you were. You know you and Lin will never work, right?”

For all Lin’s complaints, Tenzin had forgotten how much of a brat Su could be. She was even worse than his siblings. “What do _you_ know about it?”

Su shrugged and slouched against the wall. “She’s just like mom. All she cares about is being a cop.”

“That’s not true,” insisted Tenzin. “Lin cares about you. She _definitely_ cares about me.” He couldn’t help the dopy, lovesick grin on his face. 

Su just rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” 

A fancy green roadster driven by a pair of young toughs turned down the street. Su pushed herself off the wall. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said as she walked out into the street.

The car was slowing down and it dawned on Tenzin that they were there there to pick up her. Little Suyin Beifong was sneaking out and getting into strange cars with strange boys at a quarter past midnight. “Hey!” He lunged out to seize her wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?” 

“Out.” Su twisted her arm out of his grasp with a contemptuous flick and swung over the side of the car into the rumble seat. “You’re such a stick in the mud. Maybe you and Lin _do_ belong together.” She laughed as the car pealed away.

****

Age 24

Tenzin lay in bed Lin’s tiny new apartment and watched her make their breakfast of instant jook. The place was a shoebox, but it was nice to know that no one could accidentally walk in on them. She had already given him a key. It was like they were really getting serious. 

Over breakfast, Tenzin read aloud from the newspaper while Lin kept up a running commentary. For some reason, she kept grimacing after each sip of her tea. He wasn’t sure why; his tasted fine. “What are you drinking?”

“Moon tea.”

“You’re taking _moon tea_?” Tenzin knew a lot of women used moon tea, his sister used moon tea, but shouldn’t he have some say here? After all, it was his babies she was preventing. 

“Do you think I want to end up like my mother, “ she asked, “saddled with a couple of unwanted kids?”

Honestly, Tenzin didn’t understand why Lin always got like this. Of course her mother wanted her. “Who would’t want kids?” 

“Me, that’s who.” Lin slammed back the rest of the tea, her face twisting in disgust. “First their all stinking and squalling, and the next thing you know, they’re ungrateful teenagers getting into trouble and screwing up your career.” 

Of course this was about Suyin. The scars on Lin’s face may have healed, but the rift in the Beifong family had not. He reached across the table to take her hand. “It will be different with ours,” Tenzin promised.

“Why? Because you’ll be carrying them?” Lin asked sarcastically, freeing her hand to pull on her boots. She glanced over at the clock. “Monkeyfeathers! I’m late.” She grabbed her keys, her coat and a quick kiss before Tenzin could blink. 

“Love you,” Tenzin called after her as she raced down the hall. He went back inside to clean up the dishes. 

****

Age 33

Tenzin and his siblings crept out of the family quarters as their father settled in for his mid-afternoon nap. Kya had been in town for a week now and even Bumi had managed to arrange some leave for Dad’s 65th birthday. It was the first time they’d all been together in years. It should have been a happy occasion, but the instead the mood was decidedly subdued. 

Out in the courtyard, Bumi sank down the steps and the others joined him. “I…I didn’t think he’d look so old,” Bumi said, hanging his head. He looked lost.

“He is _165_ ,” Kya pointed out. “His aura is…tired. I brought the spirit water Mom asked for from the North and we’re doing what we can, but…” She trailed off hopelessly.

The truth was, their father was dying. His decline had been so gradual that they had all missed it until it was too late. They had dismissed his exhaustion for overwork and his dizzy spells for dehydration. None of them had ever thought of Aang as anything less than immortal.

Bumi lounged back onto the steps behind him. “At least the old place hasn’t changed much,” he observed with false cheer. “You still dating Lin?”

“Yeah,” added Kya, elbowing Tenzin’s side. “When are you two going to give Dad some grandkids?”

Tenzin wished his siblings had tried any other conversational gambit. Even one of Bumi’s ridiculous stories would do. Tenzin and Lin had been talking a lot about kids, or at least he had. Every time he brought it up it was _I’m not ready_ or _I’m focusing on my career_ or _I love you, Tenzin, but I’m just not cut out for motherhood can’t we just drop this._ “Why don’t _you_ give him some grandkids?” 

Kya rolled her eyes. “Because _my_ kids wouldn’t be his oh-so-precious air benders.” She left the ‘stupid’ off, but it was strongly implied. “Of course, who knows what you and Lin would have?”

Bumi picked something out of his ear and studied if before flicking it away. “I think we can rule fire bender out. Hey,” he bolted upright, “maybe _I_ should have kids.”

That was a horrible idea. Bumi was practically an overgrown child himself. He’d probably leave them behind on one of his zany adventures or forget to feed them or something. 

“Who says you don’t already, Mr. Girl-In-Every-Port?” Kya punched him in the arm. 

“Hey,” Bumi threw up his hands, “I can’t help it if I’m irresistible.” 

Tenzin tuned out their good-natured bickering. As little as he wanted to think about his father dying, it did change things. Lin loved Aang. Surely if she understood the severity of the situation she would want to give Aang grandkids almost as much as Tenzin did. With luck, he would never have to be the last air bender. 

****

Age 35

Tenzin watched as his mother dismantled and packed away the life she had spent nearly 50 years building. She wrapped a beautifully painted Water Tribe bowl in newspapers and laid it in the trunk. She took down a ceremonial wolf mask off the wall and reached for her stack. “Tenzin, could you hand me some more of those newspapers?”

Tenzin passed them over. “I don’t want you to go.”

Mom smiled sadly. “I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry, but everything here reminds me of Aang.” She wrapped the mask and packed it away with a sigh. “I need to go home for a while. Be with my brother.”

“I’m not sure I can do this without you,” Tenzin confessed. “I’m not Dad. I’m not strong enough to be the last air bender.”

Mom sat on the bed and patted the space beside her. As he sat down beside her, she took Tenzin’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You’re too young to remember this, but being the last air bender was incredibly hard on your father too. It wasn’t especially easy being the last air bender’s wife either.”

“Dad never…” Never what? Took it out on her? Resented her? Tenzin wasn't sure how to finish that sentence, but he knew Dad had never deliberately hurt her. 

“No, no,” she assured him, “ but there were some people…when Aang and I got married I understood exactly what he wanted and I thought I knew what I was getting into. Then Bumi turned out not to be a bender and Kya was the wrong type of bender. People talked like I was letting Aang down, letting the world down. Some of the Air Acolytes wanted him to divorce me and start a…a harem.”

The grip on his hand turned painful. Even after all these years, she was still furious and who could blame her? They had wanted to break up his parents’ marriage and send Dad out to stud like an ostrich-horse. 

“It took a lot of strength to be the wife of the last air bender,” Mom said. “There were days I din’t think I had it.”

“Lin…” Tenzin trailed off. He wanted to say that she had the strength, but if she did, wouldn’t they be married by now? Tenzin loved Lin, but the thing she wanted the least was the one thing he wanted the most. They weren’t working, but he didn’t know how to give her up. Tenzin’s throat felt tight and his eyes started to burn.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Mom cooed. Her hug swallowed him like the ocean.

****

Age 36

Tenzin and Pema worked silently together as they brushed out Oogi’s winter coat. Since Dad’s death, he had found himself spending more and more time with the young Air Acolyte. She was such a good listener he felt like he could tell her anything. Even when they weren’t talking, Pema practically radiated the serenity that had been missing from his life. 

“Tenzin,” Pema called quietly. He looked up to find her _right there_. “Tenzin, I love you,” she said, and suddenly they were kissing.

Her kiss was softer than Lin’s. Everything about her was softer than Lin. It took Tenzin a minute to remember he should push her off. “Pema, I’m with someone!”

“I know and she’s making you miserable,” cried Pema. “I love you Tenzin, and I want to have your babies.”

“You want to have my…” He should say he loved Lin. He should say he was too old for her. He should say he didn't think of her like that, except now he couldn’t _stop_. He should say all of that, but he didn’t. He thought about babies and Pema’s inner strength and kissed her back instead. 

****

Age 36.5

Lin was smiling as she came up the path from the docks. She was out of uniform for a change and had even done something different with her hair. “Hey,” she called, “you ready for our date?”

Tenzin took a deep breath and began the hardest conversation of his life. “Lin, we need to talk.”


End file.
